[Question] Delete unknown users in security tab

[d-shade]

Hello i just had to reinstall windows on my comp and how im having these unknown users in my security tab.

and i was wondering if there are any way to take them off the list.

this is my slave so even after the clean install the users i guess stayed but now have no profile to match to.

i just want to get rid of them.

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--Sonic

[Sonic]

yes you can clean it without any problem.

[rssfed23]

Although just clicking remove will not remove the users (just their security rules for that file/folder).

To delete the users go to start>run>control userpasswords2>advanced tab>advanced button.

Only then will you see all users/groups on your computer (i think)

[nmX.Memnoch]

They reason they're "Unknown" is because the user doesn't exist. The string of characters you see is what's called a SID...or Security Identifier. Each user account and user group has a unique SID. If you delete the account and recreate it with the same logon name, the SID will still have changed...this is why you'd get a new user profile in such a case.

You can delete those without any problems because, as I said, those users don't exist anymore. It's left over NTFS permissions from your previous install.

[jftuga]

You might want to also check C:\Documents and Settings for any old, outdated user directories.

-John

[d-shade]

well even if i select them i the remove button is greyed out

these were made before i h ad to reinstall my hd as my old hd died.

so im trying to find a way to delete them some how.

[nmX.Memnoch]

You have to remove them from the top level directory. The "remove" option is greyed about because the directory is inheriting permissions from it's parent directory. Keep going up in the directory structure until you find the directory that isn't greyed out...this will be the top level for those permissions.

[d-shade]

even if i goto the top level its still greyed out.

unless there is a higher level above D:\

is there some other way i can remove these without having to go through the security tab?